Judge in Federal Hoops Trial
- Thread starter Knucklehank1
- Start date
Who TF is Pitino? Never heard of him.
He’s the gift that keeps on giving (in like an STD sort of way).
Means nothing WRT Pitino. The judge has no "don't tell me" evidence that Pitino wanted to or would have denied anything.
That's simply grandstanding in order to dole out harsh punishment--which BTW strengthens the FBI's hand on cases to come...
That's simply grandstanding in order to dole out harsh punishment--which BTW strengthens the FBI's hand on cases to come...
Might’ve just been grandstanding by the judge. Could also be that he’s seen enough circumstantial connections to support his grandstanding.
The only thing it tells me is the name of a judge who won't be presiding over a case involving Pitino as plaintiff or defendant...
Don’t think a judge is suppose to hang his hat on circumstantial evidence, only the facts.
Sometimes I think he was born under the sign of Herpes.
Jim Gatto was sentenced to 9 months in prison, while Merl Code and Christian Dawkins were each sentenced to 6 months in prison. Under federal guidelines, Gatto faced 46-57 months in prison while Code and Dawkins each faced 30-37 months. Seems to me that they ended up with pretty light punishment. In fact, the judge said that the sentences were so minimal because the guys had otherwise led "good and productive lives" and "learned their lesson," plus many other similar acts had frequently been committed in college basketball recently.
And I guess I hadn't been paying enough attention to the case, but the stories I read today indicated that, in a wiretapped call, Merl Code had said that Pitino "didn't know everything" about the deals being brokered so that he could maintain "plausible deniability", suggesting that Pitino did know the basics of the scheme. Bad news for Pitino and his lawsuit versus UofL, but probably also bad news for UofL with the NCAA.
Heard a lawyer on the radio this afternoon say that first time offenders in a white collar crime who show regret get comparable sentences.
"Didn't know everything" could mean anything incl. whether money was involved. There's no evidence that the perpetrators were trying to protect Pitino with "plausible deniability" nor that Pitino wanted that.
In fact, unless those same people knew that they were committing a crime, plausible deniability was irrelevant. That judge should have known that PD had no standing with the NCAA, so there was no reason to try to protect Pitino with that.
The judge was simply mouthing off or, at a minimum, grandstanding. And it makes little difference in Pitino's suit against U of L...
In zipp’s world, when someone with all the facts of any case in front of them says something that doesn’t fit with zipp’s narrative, their statements can be dismissed as inconsequential. “You know nothing, Jon Snow...”
Pitino was only in the basketball business for 45 years. And he coached at Kentucky, which is even better at cheating than they are at winning. Of course he knew where the bodies were buried. He railed against shoe company money paying for players for many years. And he was pissed off that the NCAA took his championship, after which he expressed very bluntly how disappointed he was in the NCAA and how he had lost faith in the organization. In his mind, how could they have punished his program so harshly over hundreds of dollars when they were doing nothing to prevent shoe companies from paying $200,000 to Anthony Davis, among many others, each and every year?
So he decided “screw the NCAA” and started playing the game everybody else was playing, and of course he was just as lucky in that regard as he was when it came to strippergate.
It all fits together perfectly well when you drop the hero worship....
Pitino was only in the basketball business for 45 years. And he coached at Kentucky, which is even better at cheating than they are at winning. Of course he knew where the bodies were buried. He railed against shoe company money paying for players for many years. And he was pissed off that the NCAA took his championship, after which he expressed very bluntly how disappointed he was in the NCAA and how he had lost faith in the organization. In his mind, how could they have punished his program so harshly over hundreds of dollars when they were doing nothing to prevent shoe companies from paying $200,000 to Anthony Davis, among many others, each and every year?
So he decided “screw the NCAA” and started playing the game everybody else was playing, and of course he was just as lucky in that regard as he was when it came to strippergate.
It all fits together perfectly well when you drop the hero worship....
That's four paragraphs that constitute a story (incl. the 'zipp' part). No evidence, no facts, not even personal testimony since the adidas guys admit that Pitino "didn't know everything."
IN AN OBJECTIVE WORLD, there's nothing about these trials and evidence to indict Pitino of anything. Of course, in a hater's world, anything may substitute for "evidence"...
Zipp, is your opinion Pitino didn't how the recruiting game worked? Is your opinion Pitino was not responsible for the people he hired?
Just curious, because you have to apply your line of thinking to every college head basketball coach. None of them cheat and they don't know what their assistants are doing to get players.
Just curious, because you have to apply your line of thinking to every college head basketball coach. None of them cheat and they don't know what their assistants are doing to get players.
Can’t believe how many of y’all have turned on Coach and clearly have no appreciation for what he’s done for our school and city.
Coach gave us everything we had and was taken advantage of by renegade employees. Hes had a clean record for decades, doubt that changed for Bowen. Respect to them but don’t see coach risking his legacy and decades of service for them or any other recruit.
Coach gave us everything we had and was taken advantage of by renegade employees. Hes had a clean record for decades, doubt that changed for Bowen. Respect to them but don’t see coach risking his legacy and decades of service for them or any other recruit.
This is what I THINK that Pitino knew/believed/decided, which is all most of us have to go on...
- The shoe companies, advisors, etc. steer(ed) players to the big schools.
- He was at a disadvantage trying to recruit big time players himself.
- He didn't believe that most head coaches were complicit in pay-for-play, i.e., knowledgeable that recruits were being paid.
- He decided to let adidas and that system work for him too.
And maybe it is!! Maybe the issue was that Pitino simply couldn't control his coaches. We know that obviously happened, and maybe that was the only reason U of L failed. But despite all of the scrutiny that U of L has received, there's no evidence that he knew money was changing hands. IMO, that's why he hasn't been indicted for anything...
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Loyalty doesn’t change when accusations and diversity hits. Coach did a lot of wonderful things for a lot of people, don’t see him risking it all for some cash, bro.
Youre missing the point.
Ignorance is no defense.
I believe he didnt know about the whoor crap. It was still his business to make sure his players and coaches were complicit with the rules. Why did you think undercover boss was created and is successful.
Had he found out early what the jack *** was doing with the whoors, he could have corrected it, and the Cards wouldn't have an asterisk Championship. Matter of fact, he'd still be here.
He had to know something was up with Bowen when he knew Creighton and DePaul both offered him 6 figures. He was in charge. The buck stopped with him, not the dirty coaches under him.
He destroyed our program. His name shall forever be excrement.........
Exactly Kerry. Ignorance is no excuse and shouldn't be tolerated. I seriously doubt he knew about McGee doing the stupid strippergate, but I am convinced he was eyeball deep in the corruption of recruiting top talent. So is coach K, Calipari, Self, and ALL the other top paid coaches in division 1 basketball. He just got caught and before someone chimes in and says he didn't, please keep in mind he coached for over 30+ years in college. He knew.
I think Pitino probably reasoned that Louisville's program is better than Creighton and DePaul. Not unlike our fans...
I'm curious why the most visible guy to have lost his job in the center of this scandal hasn't been indicted? The extent of his involvement has been so obvious...
You embrace a failed coach.
Thats speaks volumes of you and the rest of the butthurt worshippers of the coach who shall never be named.
Are you saying that you don't think DePaul would have to pay for players that U of L can get straight up?
Are you saying UK and Duke are getting players straight up?
So all the lower level programs have to pay to get their players but the big boys don't. Come on the system is the system you either play or you don't. You don't put your big toe in to test the waters. I believe 100 percent Pitinio stayed out of that game until the 1 and done era started. Then he started hiring guys that understood the shoe game instead of future head coaches. Pitinio can name all the assistants he wants but the only ones that matter are McGee, Johnson, and Fair because they were head hunters not coaches. Future head coaches had to stayed in line while the head hunters were careless because they knew the game. That was a conscious decision by Pitino and Pitino alone. That is not a story that is fact.
That is SO easy to understand for me. It's because of low hanging fruit versus the fruit at the top of the tree. It's just easier for the FBI to snag the low hanging fruit to make the case while those who shielded themselves with go between people are insulated from direct involvement. The FBI never had any intention of blowing it all up. It was grandstanding for publicity and deflection from all the political fallout they've endured lately.
JMO.
There's nothing in what you just said that's fact, at least as I understand the definition. It's your BELIEF about how the system works--and that's fine.
No, I'm not saying anyone's getting big time players straight up, incl. Duke and LPT. This is about what Pitino believed. I don't think he believed that coaches at big time schools had to expose themselves to the mechanics of pay-for-play. They're above that. A school like DePaul and its coaches have to if they want those same guys. That may be a little naive, and purposely so, but I understand the logic.
Again, there's no evidence linking Pitino directly to pay-for-play. And I feel more and more absolute in saying that as more evidence surfaces and more court proceedings involving some of these same guys take place. If Pitino had anything evidentiary against him, I think it would be out there...
When they start subpoenaing marquee head coaches to testify and evidence like this week's re. LSU starts leaking out, they're moving beyond the small fish.
Where's YOUR guy?...
Would you ultimately be satisfied if Pitino retained his position?When they start subpoenaing marquee head coaches to testify and evidence like this week's re. LSU starts leaking out, they're moving beyond the small fish.
Where's YOUR guy?...
Misrepresentation.
I've said in this space too many times to remember that Pitino needed to be gone...